the art of excuses

When I was in high school, and maybe even before that, I started making up excuses to get out of things I didn't want to do. I became really good at it. So good, that my brother even started asking me to come up with excuses for him. One time he even told me that I had a talent for coming up with convincing excuses. I doubt he remembers this but it was something that stayed with me. Let's face it, siblings are supposed to fight and rarely did my brother and I get along when we were living in the same house. I was thrilled beyond belief that he would pay me such a compliment.

It wasn't always excuses to get out of pulling weeds in the garden or running to the grocery store for my mom. Sometimes I just needed a mental health day and did not want to hang out with friends. Often times, my mom was a co-conspirator when it came to my excuses. She knew when I didn't want to spend the night at a friend's house or go out on a date with a certain boy, so she would act as my over protective mother who wouldn't let me do anything. In reality, my mom probably would let me do whatever I wanted because she knew she could trust me in my decisions.

My favorites were when I used to skip school to meet up during the day with boyfriend who went to high school on the other side of town. We rarely got to see each other during the week days, so about once a month we would skip school and have a mid day date. Those were the best times we had together because it took so much effort to meet up. The hardest one to pull off was the day I had a test in my statistics class (sorry, Rosey). I had statistics the last class of the day, so I had to come up with way to take the test early and with a good reason as to why. Here's how it worked. During my lunch period (which was only 28 minutes), I went to my statistics teacher and ask if I could take the test then. Obviously, he wanted to know why. Since I was unable to take theater classes anymore due to my heavy AP schedule, my teachers all felt bad for me, because I LOVED my theater classes. My two best girl friends had theater during the last period of the day, so I told my stats teacher that they wanted me in there to help them with the clown make up they were learning how to apply. Lucky for me, the exit to the school was right by the auditorium, where the theater class took place. So I took the test during lunch, left my second to last class of the day, walked to the auditorium and out the door to my car and drove off to meet up with my high school sweet heart. Oh the things you will do for love.

This ability to make up excuses has stayed with me to this day. I get better and better at it with each passing day. I pick up tips from friends and co workers. I even still rely on my mom to help me out on occasion. I don't abuse this power, I just use it when necessary and when it doesn't really matter. That's the key to this ability, knowing when it is okay to come up with excuses and when you just have to suck it up and do something you don't want to.